The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connector assemblies.
Some electrical connector systems utilize mating electrical connector assemblies to interconnect two circuit boards, such as a motherboard and daughter card. The conductors of one electrical connector assembly are terminated to one circuit board and extend through the housing towards a mating end to engage mating conductors of the mating connector assembly terminated to the other circuit board.
Some known electrical connector assemblies have electrical problems, particularly when transmitting at high data rates. For example, the electrical connector assemblies typically utilize differential pair signal conductors to transfer high speed signals. Electrical shielding is needed between pairs of signal conductors, and thus the electrical connector assemblies are populated with ground conductors interspersed among the pairs of signal conductors. The ground conductors improve the signal integrity. However, the ground conductors occupy valuable space within the electrical connector assemblies, causing problems with conductor density and connector assembly size or footprint. Other known electrical connector assemblies utilize shielded modules that provide electrical shielding, such as from a conductive shell or shield plates, between each row and column of signal conductors. While such designs are electrically effective at shielding the signal transmission lines, the shielding is costly and occupies valuable space within the connector, reducing the density of the electrical connector assemblies.
A need remains for a high density, high speed electrical connector assembly that is reliable and cost effective.